Christmas centerpieces - step 1 :o)

I am working on Christmas centerpieces. A customer ordered 12 of these... :o)
Basically they are Dresden plates. I made my own pattern, because she wants the centerpieces to be large. These will be about 22 inches across. She chose the fabrics and I just love how they are coming together!
The next step is to layer them upside down on white muslin and sew around the outside. Then turn them right side out thru the center and press. Then hand-applique the center circle using Christmas fabrics. Then I will hand-quilt along the seams of the wedges.

I am making a few extra, so I have a few to give away and/or sell, also... :o)
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Gail Pan BOM, quilt finished

I finished up my Gail Pan BOM quilt this week! I did hand-quilting around the borders of each block (like her example) and on the outside border. I really like how this one turned out and can't wait til the holiday season to display it!

Here is a close-up of one of the blocks:
And here is the label I made, using one of the embroidered frames, and then just hand-signed:

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P.S. Please, please, please, if you are coming here from my old blog, don't forget to sign up to follow this new blog! :o)

Catching up on BOMs

I spent the last few days catching up on my BOMs. Here are some more of the Shabby Roses blocks. I am caught up on these now! This is block 7: Peace. This is block 8: Smile

This is block 9: Trust

And here is block 9 of *A Christmas Wish* from Gail Pan:

Part of the reason I got so many of these done is that Jim finally got me a light box made... It is so much easier to trace the patterns with a light box, rather than the front door window, or sometimes I would even use the TV screen, which would drive the kids nuts! HA!

And then I got the *Christmas Wish* top put together! Yeah! These are all fabrics from my stash! (Amazingly enough -- if you know me well, you know my stash is *LITERALLY* one shelf of a small cabinet - don't ask!) I am going to start hand-quilting on this today... :o)

Thanks so much for visiting! Hope everyone has a great week!

Shabby Roses Block #6

I am a little behind on my Shabby Roses blocks, but here is block #6, REST. I am really enjoying these!

I am working on the last Gail Pan block now, and even have the fabrics chosen from my stash to make the quilt top. Hopefully I will have pics to post soon... :o)

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Little Gems Quilt top and Thread Rack

I have been working on some projects for my PIF and for some swaps that I have joined, so I haven't had alot to show you all lately... But I did get this little quilt top finished today. It is called Little Gems, the free pattern is here, from twiddletails.com The fabrics are not my usual style, but I just couldnt resist this time. They just make me happy... :o)

And another thing that made me happy today... :o) Jim made me a 4-shelf thread rack! We have these for sale on our Country Scrap Quilts site, with 2 swiveling shelves. But I have *alot* of thread (I do machine embroidery too) so I needed more than two shelves! (I actually have an ugly 100-spool rack, because I have so much thread, but it is now in my sewing closet, to hold most of my thread, with this new rack holding the colors I use the most...) This rack is really handy because you can tilt the shelves out and back, to get your thread out. If you need a new thread rack, maybe you can take a peek and see if you want Jim to make you one, too. He can make them in any size.... :o)

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Pay It Forward

Have you all heard about *Pay It Forward*? You sign up with someone, they send you a gift of their choice. Then you have three people sign up with you, and you send them each one gift. They have three people sign up with each of them, and so on... You have a year to send out your gifts. It is on the honor system and you can send as much or as little as your budget/time allows. The idea is to give, just for the point of giving. Well, you remember at the beginning of August, I was lucky enough to receive my gift from Carol at Cornfield Quilter. She did SO much more than I expected, she machine quilted one of my quilt tops for me. I still have that quilt over my embroidery machine here by my computer, so I can look at it every day...

Last week, I sent off two of my PIF gifts. They both have been received so I thought I would show pics here. My love is hand-quilting, so both of these little gifts are hand quilted, with wonderful thoughts for the recipients in every stitch. :o) Our budget has been very tight lately, with Jim laid off for 5 weeks this summer, and back-to-school expenses, but I was very glad to hear that both my friends liked their gifts.

This table topper was sent to Erin at My Patchwork Life. She likes scrappy things, so I thought she would like this. Go visit her blog, she has the most lovely quilts with that scrappy look. I am always afraid to try scrappy, thinking it just wont look right all together, but hers are always beautiful!
This second table topper was sent to Kay. She does not have a blog anymore, but she emailed me and let me know that she loved it. She has a small table that she needed a table topper for... :o)

I have one more friend to send a PIF gift to, which I am currently working on... :o)))) Then I just may do the whole thing again. It is such a nice feeling to Pay It Forward!

Here is another pic of the rose Jim gave me for our anniversary last week. Look how lovely it has opened up. :o)

Hope you are all having a good week! Thanks for visiting!